


The moon is like a woman

by VerticalCouch



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Just hope i write them properly, Oh god i hope its ok, Will probably involve other characters, my first one, s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-24 15:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9768119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerticalCouch/pseuds/VerticalCouch
Summary: When Vendel lifted the binding curse off Strickler and Barbara they all thought that that was the end of it. But what if more stronger magic was at play and a fragment of their hearts were still linked?As Jim goes into the Darklands it forces everyone to have to team together.Post season 1 - Stricklake - Linked hearts headcannon.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is (hopefully) going to go with the stages of the moon. All eight of them but I might dedicate more chapters to one cycle when necessary.  
> It also means I might stretch the cycle with a day or two to make it fit but I'll try not to!

_**A New Moon: New beginnings. A fresh start, a blank page.** _

Before morning broke he was already awake. He moved on to prepare several things and then once the sun had come out, he left the house and let the door fall shut behind him. The cold air greeted him and he came to miss Arcadia in more ways than one. He buried his face in his scarf and started walking.

He had taken the Gryo to Scotland after the whole ordeal at trollmarket and had made his way to the small house on a hill near Aberdeen he owned. He had always kept several of these safehouses around in case he ever had to leave one place or another. And this time it had been his life in Arcadia he had left behind.

He shook his head and tried to ignore the pain that resided in his head and chest. Perhaps it was still from that blow that Angor Rot had delivered, or perhaps it was his broken heart.

While puffing out another cloud of hot breath, he crouched down near the small ruin that used to be a castle of some sort. A broken heart… did he even have a heart? People around him would say no, and he would have believed them if the ache wouldn't have told him otherwise. 

He took out his notebook and felt the stone. He noted down some of the grooves and indentations. Each one of them telling a story. He then tried to deduce whether man's or troll's hand had caused its destruction. 

After only a small while he already felt the cold bite on his finger tips. He tried to warm them with some of his breath so he could continue writing. He needed to persevere, he needed to make use of his time in the sun. 

He ground his teeth and clenched his jaw. He would not go home and just sit there by the fire. He’d just sit there and remember…warmth.. and apple pie…and her perfume..

“For Gunmar's sake!” 

He flung the book away and kicked the stone in his flare up. Regret followed as his foot throbbed from the collision . He flung another string of curse words out of his mouth as he nursed his foot . Why did his mind have to wander to her every time? Why did he have to fall in love with a human of all things? Falling in love with a goblin would have been a wiser idea. 

He buried his face in his hands and closed his eyes. She was there still in his mind's eye, laying in the heartstone, saying that he was the only thing she would look forward to forgetting. He wished he would've forgotten things as well.

#############

Barbara Lake, a thousand miles away, woke up in the middle of the night after one of the many nightmares she had had in the past days. She glanced at the clock, midnight. She sighed, she had only been asleep for four hours and she was already waking up from her dreams? 

She slowly got up, careful not to move too much because she was still nursing that concussion, and moved downstairs. The dreams would always be the same, Jim would be there and there would be monsters trying to hurt him.

She automatically reached for the kettle to fill it up with water and then more consciously decided it would be wise to opt for tea bags instead of loose tea. She chuckled and leaned against the counter, Jim did say her tea could be atrocious at times. 

She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Toby, Jim's best friend, had said that Jim had taken off with Claire and her family on a trip. Jim hadn't even asked if he was allowed but had just taken off. There was something though, perhaps her gut feeling, that told her there was something more going on, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Nevertheless, she would have to have a very stern word with him when he came back and with Claire's parents as well for that matter. 

At the whistle of the kettle she came back to earth and added some sugar to her cup along with the tea bag. She was not going to admit it to him, but she was missing him a lot. He was grown up now and had his own life and things to do, but the house seemed so empty every time. She looked forward to someone welcoming her at night or in the morning when she’d finished her shift. 

She sipped the liquid carefully and made her way upstairs again to her bedroom. She had considered going back to the dating scene, but she hardly seemed to find the time or someone who would be patient enough. 

She was picky, too. He would need to be intelligent and a gentleman. But also someone who had wit and was soft spoken. With enough seriousness and enough humour. Someone with green eyes, someone with a soft deep voice. Someone like…

She stopped in front of her door and glanced at the only window in the hallway. There was no moon tonight, just dark sky with the occasional star. She smiled and sipped her tea again before going back into her room.

########## 

He had successfully completed several ruïnes, and when the sun was setting he made his way home again. He did not care to go home this early, but he had to be honest with himself that he was freezing and he had quite enough of cold broken stone as well. He stepped inside and placed the notebook on the coffee table and looked between the kitchen and the bathroom. He smelled of damp and trolls and he was starving. Which one would he deal first with? 

_Food first,_ he reasoned and went inside the kitchen. He busied himself for the better part of that hour preparing a small feast for himself and then continued to let the pot simmer on the stove.

He then quite literally changed and took of his cloak. He eyed the knives on the rim -they could do with a sharpening- especially if he was to change back to his form soon. He'd need something to defend himself with. 

He then looked up and met his own yellow eyes in the mirror. They were slitted, bags under them. He looked every bit the mistake people always pointed out he was. He puffed out his chest to appear somewhat proud and hummed when at least no round curves could be spotted. Slender but strong. That was how he was build and he was proud of it.

He then took off the leather cloth that hung around his waist and dropped it on the floor. Next, he took the small chisel and started picking away at any mud or dirt that had made itself a home in his markings.

Troll beings or anything related to them didn't need to wash themselves like humans did but needed the maintenance nevertheless.

Some trolls liked having moss or weeds grow on them, Stricklander did not. Maybe he had lived as a human too long, but he held hygiene in the highest regard. Once he was done maintaining his body and horns along with his fangs, he reverted back to his human form. Then once more he changed, this time out of his human clothes, and stepped into the shower. 

His disguise was like a suit, it needed to be washed and maintained as well. The water fell on his face. He'd miss these sensations as a human. It was all so different in troll form, eating,sleeping,showering… a touch, a kiss…

He opened his eyes and was suddenly back there, that night he had betrayed her by binding her to him for his own gain. 

+++++++

_“Thank you so much for bringing me home, Walt.” She smiled briefly at him and opened the door to step inside with him._

_“Please, Barbara. It was my pleasure.” He smiled and held up his hand. He stepped in carefully and his nostrils flared ,Jim wasn't home. Good._

_He then helped her with her coat and hung it up for her. “I had a splendid afternoon, nothing better than excellent company and good tea.”_

_She giggled a bit shyly, something he had heard before but could not tire of, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear._

_He smiled but then felt his breath catch a bit as she came closer than ever before and placed her hands on his chest._

_“You are such a charmer do you know? Very dangerous. “ He smiled, something that was bordering on sly. “I can be very dangerous, Barbara. “_

_A soft laugh and a quick, “I bet..” in response and before Strickler knew what was happening a soft pressure on his lips._

_She was kissing him..._

_He looked down, frozen on the spot for a couple of moments. A human woman, a very beautiful and intelligent human woman was kissing him, and he wasn’t being very responsive._

_It was only when he felt her move away and she broke the kiss that he shot into action and wrapped his arms around her waist. She gave a small surprised squeak against his lips as he reclaimed them and felt her relax in his arms a moment later._

_He registered faintly that her arms snaked around his neck, but he kept mostly focused on their kiss. He had kissed trolls before, had his relations with other changelings as well, but this was something so wonderful and amazing to experience._

_Her lips were warm and soft and tasted slightly of the peppermint tea she had had earlier in the day. Only the slightest hint of betrayal tainted it._

_The thought jolted him awake and he carefully broke the kiss and gave her a smile._

_“Barbara.. You surprise me..”_ _She smiled back now a bit more flirtatious. “Do I?" Her fingers were playing with some of the greyer hair at the nape of his neck. He shivered and felt as if electricity was trailing up his spine._

_“Yes. I did not think…perhaps I thought…” She chuckled and pecked his lips again softly._

_“That I didn't like you this way? We’ve gone on several dates now and you made your intentions clear, so I thought I’d make mine clear as well.”_

_He felt weird. There was something growing inside him and it wasn't a fungus._

_He just nodded in response and pecked her hand. “You most certainly did. And I cannot wait for the next date.”_

_She nodded and blushed when she took her hand back._  
_“Neither can I… perhaps Saturday? “_

_He smiled and nodded and opened the door. “Saturday it is…” He then walked to his car and saw her in the doorway and waved a bit. Why,?he did not know. He was growing sentimental it seemed..._

#######

Barbara just heard the blaring of her alarm and reached over to quiet it. She glanced at it again to confirm the time. 10 o'clock. It was later than most days, but she knew that a head wound needed the rest, so she had given herself some time to recuperate.

She groggily turned her face back against her cushion and she couldn’t help the tiny smile that appeared on her face.

The man of her dreams had been so handsome, charming. She smiled more. And a damn good kisser. It was very refreshing to have a nice dream after all the other horrible ones. He had brought them home after having tea, he had taken off her coat and then kissed her. She could even remember his name. Walt…She had sighed it as they kissed. 

She hugged her pillow closer and tried to suppress some of the butterflies in her stomach while containing her giggles.

Little did she know that there was a man in his bathrobe across the ocean with the same goofy smile and the same butterflies.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Crescent Moon: Hopes and Wishes**_.

  
She didn't know how she had dealt with this. How she WAS dealing with this. There were trolls in her basement, Toby and Claire had lied to her about where Jim was and apparently according to the troll with the countless eyes, he was in something called the darklands. She honestly had no idea what that place was or why he was chosen for this task. The only thing she knew was that her son was in danger.

  
“So.. “ She looked around the room where everyone was standing around her. “You all say that I have known this before, but that the 'car crash' was actually a magical mishap that erased my mind?” She noticed Claire glancing at Toby who in turn glanced at the Big Blue One.

  
“Uhm yes…quite so Barbara. Nasty magic.” Barbara looked at the six-eyed one now. Blinky he had said and took her glasses off to rub her eyes “Fine I'll believe it for now. So when is Jim coming back?” She put on her glasses again and looked around, nobody seemed to speak up.

She frowned. “Excuse me? He is coming back, isn't he?” Blinky stepped forward and spread all four of his hands. “Well, it is to say Barbara. The darklands are a mysterious and dangerous place…” She felt her heart drop and sat up more. “Are you telling me he's…he is there alone and…”

They all shared glances again and shifted on their feet. She had had enough.“Out! All of you. I don't want to see any of you at the moment. “ She stood up and had her angry mum voice on. Toby and Claire knew what that entitled.

Blinky and Draal did not. 

“OUT!”

They soon learned after that. 

All of them quickly scampered away and out and left her alone. She puffed and angrily put the chair back in its original place. She halted and gripped it harsher.

_She was hyperventilating_. She needed to breathe.  
The first thing to do against a panic attack was to acknowledge it. So she closed her eyes and did just that. _Breathe in… breathe out._

  
####

He sat upright in his bed and gasped for air. What was this? The pressure on his chest, the dread in his heart? His pyjama shirt was all drenched, and he got up quickly. Perhaps he needed some air. He stumbled to the window and opened it. In between gasps for air he felt his heart calm down. He felt faint and a strong dread enveloped him.

He looked at sky where the moon was just a small sliver of itself and a few stars joined it. He sighed and felt something on his cheek. It was wet, he was crying. He swallowed and gripped the windowsill tighter. This sadness and grief. He didn't know where it came from, but it was so strong and so real it knocked him almost out. 

He bent down and looked at the spot where tears had been falling and tried to rake his brain as to why he was crying. He hadn't cried in centuries, so why was he now?  
A fresh breeze from outside hit him in the face and everything seemed to click.

“Barbara…”

He looked out at the moors that were just silent and dark. Could it be her? Could she be in danger?

He turned and paced while rubbing between his ribs. But how could it be?

The curse that bound them together had been broken, and Vendel had assured them it was absolute. 

He growled slightly in annoyance, the sound being deeper than usual.

This couldn't be. This wouldn't do.

He needed to make certain it was still severed. He couldn't still be bound to her, it was a liability… a danger. He stopped and realized.

_“But oh please, please, let it be true.”_

#### 

Barbara hadn't slept the past few days after the meeting in her living room had happened.

Her head and the frequent panic attacks had fatigued her and she had thrown herself into work at the hospital. It was only that one evening when the moon was in its last day of its crescent moon cycle that she realized..

_What are you just standing around for? You're his mother! Do something! I have to get him back. Don't just give up! Persevere!_

She dropped her cup of tea in the sink and raced upstairs to change into something more adventurous - meaning her hiking gear from 5 years ago. 

Once changed and doors locked, she marched over to Toby's house and got her way in after greeting his grandma. She was so oblivious to it all still. Something she should wish to keep. She then waited for Toby to come down.

“Dr L?” 

She turned and looked at the small plump boy that had been her son’s best friend since kindergarten. “Toby, I am going to go pick up my son. Lead the way.”

Toby's eyes went as wide as his mouth and with an excited nod and stumble he went to get his walkie talkie.

“Guys! Mission 'rescue Jimbo' is a go! It is a go!” 

She smiled softly at his loyalty to her son and held fast to the  courage that swelled in her.

_“Don't worry Jim, we have your back. I just hope we’ll be on time...”_

No,She wouldn't think like that. It was hope she needed. Hope and strength would get her her son back.

#### 

Strickler had just settled in the plane and smiled politely at the woman next to him.

Vile, she smelled like she had been smothered in daisies.

He buckled the seatbelt and ignored the safety procedure the crew were performing.

He flicked through the brochure and hummed at the nice colognes. Perhaps he could do with a new one..

A warmth suddenly spread in his chest and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. No daisies this time but _her_. His heart raced and he sat up properly.

“Barbara… “

It was definitely her, there was no doubt about it. They were still linked in a way and he felt the determination in his heart. 

He was going to resolve this, one way or another. He had never felt this determined or courageous in his life, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

“ I hope to see you soon again.. “ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> Thank you so much for being patient with me and for continuing to read this fic of mine!  
> Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and gave me kudos!  
> It's honestly so nice to know people are enjoying this.!  
> It took a bit longer for me to update due to work and etc. Hopefully I'll manage a more steady updating system but we will have to see!  
> Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> So.... I fell into this otp head first and bumped my head real good. Which I hope this will turn out to be hopefully!  
> I hope you guys like the first chapter and I'll try to update as soon as possible. But work and etc might delay me!


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